14 day cooling off period

alstead

I booked an inspection of my roof for two days time for the cost of £250
I cancelled it after 12 hours but am still getting charged
I thought I had 14 days cooling off but roofer is saying that I don't
can anyone clarify?

neilmcl

I suppose this comes under the umbrella of "contracts where the consumer has specifically requested the trader to call to carry out urgent repairs or maintenance", in which case there is no right to cancel, otr at least this is what the roofer is hoping.

DoaM

The trader isn't automatically entitled to keep the full £250 though ... they need to mitigate any loss (e.g. taking on another appointment) and refund the deposit less any reasonable costs incurred.

One tactic may be to ask a friend to enquire as to the trader's availability on that date ... if they say they can't make it (and suggest an alternative) then you have reasonable evidence that they've mitigated any loss. Thus you could send an LBA for the return of the funds, followed by an MCOL claim.

davidmcn

In any event they're not having to spend their time travelling, inspecting, writing up a report etc, so there's bound to be some saving to them.

Ectophile

Don't assume that anything they say is true.


If you signed up on their premises, then you're stuck.


Otherwise, they should have given you information on the 14 day right to cancel. If they failed to do so, then they can't enforce the payment. If you were told about the right to cancel, but you asked them to do the work urgently, then they can charge for any work already done.

neilmcl

Ectophile wrote: »

Don't assume that anything they say is true.


If you signed up on their premises, then you're stuck.


Otherwise, they should have given you information on the 14 day right to cancel. If they failed to do so, then they can't enforce the payment. If you were told about the right to cancel, but you asked them to do the work urgently, then they can charge for any work already done.

As I've mentioned if this contract is one "where the consumer has specifically requested the trader to call to carry out urgent repairs or maintenance" then it isn't covered by the CCRs and therefore no right to cancel and no requirement to to provide information outlining a customer's right to cancel is required. DoaM has it correct, any charges comes purely down mitigated costs.

unholyangel

I don't think this would be covered by any exemption. An inspection is not urgent repairs or maintenance - the OP has not mentioned a leak or damage of any kind that would make this urgent.

Plus, information the trader is required to give even where no right of cancellation exists is:

(o)where under regulation 28, 36 or 37 there is no right to cancel or the right to cancel may be lost, the information that the consumer will not benefit from a right to cancel, or the circumstances under which the consumer loses the right to cancel;

OP, how did you pay? Or by charged do you mean invoiced?